E-auction for IPL title sponsorship: Shukla

IPL title sponsorship rights will be decided by E-auction. Indian Premier League chairman Rajiv Shula has revealed.

The issue of e-auction in the IPL was discussed with the governing body. It was decided to determine the next title sponsor through e-auction. “Issue of e-auction was discussed and IPL staff is told to talk to some experts if we can do that,” Shukla has told ANI. “They mentioned since it’s very segregated tender, so becomes very difficult. Still they have been told to find out from experts.”

The IPL Chairman has though confirmed e-auction for title sponsorship of the tournament. “For title sponsorship, we have decided to go for e-auction.”

This comes two days after Rajya Sabha member Subramanian Swamy wrote to former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court RM Lodha, who has come up with various reforms in cricket, to consider e-auction as the way ahead for complete transparency.

The two-year title sponsorship deal with Vivo ends after the current IPL season. The BCCI will be expecting around 100% rise in the sponsorship values, which have gone up by around 150 % since DLF had acquired the rights for the first five-year cycle for Rs 200 crore – Rs 40 crore per annum. Chinese handset major Vivo has paid Rs 90-100 crore each for the 2016 and 2017 seasons.

The IPL GC in the Capital on Sunday has taken all its decisions unanimously, with the Supreme Court-appointed Committee of Administration being in agreement on all decisions. “We will have a mega (players’) auction next year. But retention policy needs to be decided,” the IPL Chairman added.

The BCCI has already made it clear that the media rights for broadcast, digital and media platforms will now be for five years. The board had earlier invited media rights bids for a ten year period. But the tender was not opened on scheduled date and subsequently scrapped.

“There was an assessment we should not get for 10-year media rights contract. We don’t know how big the league will be in next five years,” Shukla added. “The CoA was in agreement with everything. We were sitting together and each decision was unanimous.”

The present trends in IPL viewership ratings and broadcasters revenue charts, coupled with unprecedented competition among the broadcasters for rights, new players’ entry and better net connectivity, the broadcast rights are expected to fetch up to INR 15,000 crore for the five-year deal. Sony Pictures, the present broadcast rights holders had paid Rs 6,700 crore for a nine-year period, while Hotstar had paid Rs 302.2 crore for the three year deal.

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